


Soft Place to Land

by Artemisia



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 03:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16441757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemisia/pseuds/Artemisia
Summary: Asking for someone who has been gone for three years, asking for Klaus, is sure to stir up a few hornets nests in New Orleans. Marcel meets Caroline, a puzzle he can't quite fathom. Who brings their children to Klaus for safety?(What really happened when Caroline went to New Orleans looking for Klaus.)





	1. Chapter 1

The witch watched as the blond, her two small daughters in hand, left the bar. She pulled out her cell as the door closed and dialed. As she listened to it ring, she wondered if this was the correct choice.

“Hello.”

“Someone just came in looking for Klaus Mikaelson. Five-eight, blond vampire. Said her name was Caroline Forbes.”

“Thank you. I will deal with her.”

She hesitates, before adding “Marcel she had two little girls with her. I think they’re her daughters.”

The sound that signals the King of New Orleans has hung up. She looks at the phone for a moment, before pocketing it and getting back to work. But fear and worry settle into the back of her brain.

 

* * *

 

 

Caroline had just finished buckling Lizzy into her car seat, Josie already safely tucked in, when she felt them behind her. She pulled herself out and shut the door, hoping the extra level would provide some small measure of safety for her girls.

Plastering her Miss Mystic FallsTM smile on she turned around. “Can I help you?”

The vampire standing there was not what she expected. He was taller then her with a small smile on his face, though the tension in his shoulders gave him away. The way he held himself was relaxed, almost sunny. “Caroline Forbes?”

“Yes.” It was guarded and wary.

“I’m Josh Rosza. I own Rousseau's.” He tilted his head towards building she had walked out of a few minutes prior. “Marcel would like a word.”

“Marcel?”

He opened his mouth, paused, closed it. Then he spoke. “Let’s just say he runs things around here.”

Her eyes darted around, noting several more vampires who seemed to appear. “Look. I’m not staying. I don’t want any trouble.”

He looks over her shoulder into the backseat at the identical eyes looking solemnly out back at him. “He wont hurt your kids. It’s one of the rules. He just wants to talk. I promise.”

Earnest. That is what is surprising about this vampire. He’s completely earnest. Caroline trusts her gut. She doesn’t know if she can trust this Marcel, but she can trust the one in front of her. “Where?” Caroline half hopes he’ll just pull out a phone and they can get this over with that way.

“Do you want to drive or should I? I mean if you don’t mind me driving your car. No need to upset the kids.”

“I’ll drive. Just give me the directions.” She wished desperately they were anywhere else.

A short drive later they’re pulling into a church parking lot. Again not what she had expected, but then again nothing that had happened today had gone as planned. Parking she half turned to look at the vampire riding with her.

He smiles. “You can bring them in. I’ll watch them. Vincent has some toys they can play with while you talk to Marcel. This is St. Anne’s. It’s kind of a community center for the supernatural.”

She frowns and nods before letting herself out. She gets Lizzie out and grits her teeth as Josh does the same for Josie. He notices the look on her face. “I’m sorry. I should have asked before I just touched her. I just thought with two you must have your hands full. I promise they’ll be completely safe.”

Caroline lets out a single, tight nod to acknowledge is apology. She grateful the girls are being so well behaved. Locking the car, Caroline walks around to where Josh is holding Josie; Lizzie on her hip. “Josie, Lizzie this is Josh. He’s going to watch you while mommy talks to someone for just a minute okay?” At their soft sounds of agreement, she follows Josh into the church. There are two African American men talking softly in the entrance, and though they look surprised to see the child on Josh’s hip, Caroline knows that she at least is expected.

“Marcel. Vincent. This is Caroline Forbes. Caroline this is Marcel. King of New Orleans.”

A charming smile crosses Marcel’s face, but it only sets her more on edge. She knows that kind of smile. “Ms. Forbes we’re just going to go up to Vincent’s office for a moment. Josh can take your girls down to the play room in the meantime.”

She feels an itch in her gums as she stares down the older vampire before her. He might think he’s big and scary, but she’s faced worse. Silias for one and she has her daughters to protect. His face softens with understanding. “Caroline Forbes I swear to you no one and nothing will harm your kids within this city.”

She sets Lizzie gently down on her feet, reluctantly transferring the small hand to Josh’s. Caroline gives him a look that promises death should anything happen to the two.

“Mommy I’m hungry.” Josie whines. Josh puts her down as well, keeping a firm hold on her hand.

“We can fix that. There are juice boxes and a snack in the playroom okay?”

“Nothing with too much sugar. No candy.”

Josh smiles his earnest smile. “I think we’ve got some graham crackers and apple juice. Maybe some pretzels.”

Caroline nods and watching as the three head deeper into the church.

“This way Ms. Forbes.” He leads her into a small office. It’s sunny and warm. It doesn’t reassure her. Marcel gestures to a seat, but the instead Caroline crosses her arms and lifts her chin, staring the vampire who declared himself King of New Orleans in the eye. It earns her a small chuckle, but his eyes are hard. “Where are you from Ms. Forbes?”

“Dallas.”

“That’s quite the trip with two little ones. May I ask why?”

“You know what let’s cut the crap. I’m looking for Klaus, but obviously he’s not here. Just the mention of him as everyone in this town on edge, so I’ll just get my girls and go.”

Marcel looked down at the blond vampire before him, surprised. “You’re in trouble.”

She lets out a huff, runs a hand through her hair. “It’s complicated. I just needed someplace safe for the girls for a few days. But like I said we’ll just go.”

“You know most people wouldn’t run towards Klaus looking for someplace safe.” He looks at her like she’s a puzzle he can’t quite solve.

“I’m not most people.”

His phone breaks the stalemate between them. Marcel checks it, frowning and then holds it out so she can see the screen. “Care to explain?” It’s a screenshot of the broadcast from her kidnapping.

“Like I said complicated.”

“You can stay.” He held up his hand before she could say anything. “We don’t hurt kids. We just have a few simple rules. No feeding on the locals and don’t break the peace. Not that I think you will.”

“No thank you.” Her tone was cool.

“Ms. Forbes. Caroline. You’re exhausted. Your girls are exhausted. They’re going to need more food then what we have on hand. And when is the last time you’ve fed? Let me help. You’re not here in my city to hurt me and mine even if you did come looking Klaus. I have a safe apartment. It’s yours for a few days till whatever this is blows over.”

“Why?”

“Because you need it.”

“Not because you can’t figure out why I would come running to Klaus for safety?”

That smile again. The one she doesn’t trust. “It’s why we’re meeting here actually. St. Anne’s is a sanctuary. Vincent makes sure of it. Caroline Forbes I already made a promise to your girls and now I extend it to you. Nothing will hurt you within this city. Now let’s go collect your girls and get you settled. Josh can stay and watch your girls while you catch a nap.”

Slowly the young blond vampire nods. She can’t trust him, not fully, but it’s a safe, soft spot to land. Maybe while she’s hear she can find out what happened to Klaus.


	2. Chapter 2

Marcel stands in the tunnels beneath the compound staring at the prone body. Eyes open vacant, unseeing, mouth moving with no words escaping, chained down and behind a barrier. Klaus Mikaelsons. The Original Hybrid. Still down with a dark magic dagger of unending agony buried in his chest.

They had quickly settle Caroline into a spartan apartment. Josh was still there, to help watch the little girls, but also to watch her. A blond puzzle of a vampire. She had fed discretely from a blood bag and called the home, assuring the man on the other end that while things had gone a little awry she was safe in New Orleans. Vincent had sent someone over with a few staples for the children for the next few days and the coloring books and crayons they had been using in the playroom.

And now Marcel was here. Standing over the fallen king. “Why did she run to you?” The question is loud in the silent space.

She was good, he had to give her that. Despite his attempts, Caroline hadn’t let anything about slip about how she knew Klaus or why she had come to him looking for shelter. Even the call home hadn’t yielded him anything Marcel hadn’t already known. He liked Caroline. It surprised him a bit. He most certainly did not let all baby vampires speak back to him. For all her tough outer shell and sharp words she loved her daughters dearly and they were just as attached to her. But it meant something that she had brought them to New Orleans, to Klaus, for safety. She was a baby vampire. Had to be as the girls were just now three, but there was something in her eyes and how she stood up to him that made him think that she was more then that. He meant what he said, no harm would come to Caroline, but she was a puzzle and Marcel did not care for puzzles. Especially not ones involving Klaus.

His phone began to vibrate, pulling him from his thoughts. Marcel stepped out the gate, locking it from the outside, as he answered.

“Marcel. I have that information you wanted on one Caroline Forbes. She’s originally from Mystic Falls.” The vampire on the phone continued to speak, but Marcel listened with half an ear. Mystic Falls. That explained a lot. It was time that Caroline and he had a real conversation, away from prying ears and without her being in protective mode.

 

* * *

 

It was late and Caroline stared at the television not really seeing. Both girls were fed, washed, in bed and asleep. Josh had finally left, though she had no doubts Marcel had others watching the apartment. Marcel had been right. She had needed the rest and so had the girls. But she couldn’t trust him. He knew something about Klaus, his disappearance, she could feel it in her bones. Which made him an enemy. Not necessarily her enemy, especially not after having given her his word. Older vampires could be funny about things like that. But he was still an enemy, most likely of Klaus’s, which meant he would be looking for a weakness. Caroline wouldn’t quite call herself a weakness, she could take care of herself, but she was something to Klaus or at the very least she had been. Enough that she had run to him now with no hesitation.

The soft knock startled her out of her musings. It was soft enough that human ears would not have heard it. She slowly got to her feet, taking a moment to check through the peephole to see who was on the other side. She wasn’t opening it for anyone less then Marcel. Growling she opened the door, hissing a soft “What?” at the Vampire King. “It’s late and my girls are asleep.”

“May I come in?”

Silently she stepped out of the way, reluctance evident in every line of her body.

“My apologies for coming over so late. I simply wanted to have a word with you without little ears to overhear. I hope that you’re feeling better now? Gotten some rest?”

The blond vampire nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.” The two moved into the small living room. “I’d offer you something to drink, but I don’t really have anything on hand.”

There was a rumble of low rich laughter. “Caroline I like you so I’m going to be straight with you. Your story isn’t adding up. Now obviously you love your girls, but my sources say you’ve been a vampire for nearly seven years, but those girls in there can’t be more then three.” He held his hands loose and open at his side trying to convey that he wasn’t a current threat. “They also say you’re from Mystic Falls. I just want to know the truth.”

Caroline loosed the leash on her monster, letting her fangs descend and the black veins crawl across her checks. “They’re mine. Maybe not biologically, but I carried them for months and gave birth to them! I am the only mother they have ever known! You want the truth? The truth is they’re mine.”

“Okay. Okay. I wasn’t suggesting otherwise. How does a vampire get pregnant?”

Carefully Caroline tucked her monster back into her skin, deciding how to answer the question. This king reminded her so very much of another, but that meant careful handling. “A dyeing coven of witches decided to hide the last two members where the one who betrayed them and killed their mother would never think to look. I just happened to be handy. They really are mine. My fiance is their father.” She held up her hand, diamond winking in the low light.

“You’re marrying a witch?”

Caroline shook her head and collapsed onto the sofa, clicking the television off. “No Alaric is human. Their mother, Jo, was a witch and she was killed on their wedding day. Ric and I moved to Dallas to protect the girls and because Ric had promised Jo he wouldn’t raise them in Mystic Falls. Like I said it’s complicated. Other things are happening and I just need to keep them safe and not be used as bait. Again.”

“And of all the people and places to run to you run to the Mikaelsonss? To Klaus? With your girls. That doesn’t seem smart and you strike me as a very smart woman Caroline.”

He was digging, but it was different then how he had in the afternoon. Like trying to see a painting when you could only look through a keyhole. Marcel definitely knew something about Klaus’s fate, but how much was safe to reveal was yet to be seen. Instead of answering Caroline smiled, the smile that held secrets. “Yes to Klaus. Who better to keep the bad things away then the original Big Bad Wolf?”

“Big bad wolf huh?” There was a hint of amusement and a smile in the tone.

Caroline let out a small noise of confirmation, studying the other vampire from beneath her lashes.

Marcel sat on the other end of the small sofa, lounging and looking for the world as if he owned the place. Which to be fair he probably did. “How did you meet him?”

There was only one him.

“He tried to kill me.”

Marcel chuckled again, soft and low. “I know it shouldn’t surprise me, but somehow it always does. Is he your sire?”

Blond curls shook in denial. “No. I was already a vampire when he came to Mystic Falls. Though I’m in his sireline.”

“Well that’s good news.” At her look he elaborated. “About three years ago a witch friend of mine managed to unlink the sireline from Klaus. So even if he’s killed we wont all go with him.”

She bolts up, startled and unnaturally still. She wants to let her monster out, to demand Klaus’s location; Marcel’s connection and did he kill him, but that would tip her hand too much. Her tone is on edge, colored with rage, “Unlinked?”

“Easy. Easy. We’re okay. My friend Davina did it. All it means that if Klaus dies it wont kill all of us.”

Caroline breaks, in a way she hasn’t broken in years. In the morning Caroline will smile and chalk it up to the stress of being held hostage, of feeling like she’s losing Stephan all over again, the possibility of her daughters being in danger, their desperate flight from Dallas. That it’s just the last straw. But that is tomorrow. She’s crying, sobbing really. She might keep her love for Stephan tucked away in her heart, even as she’s engaged to Alaric, but in the deepest parts of her next to her monster, Caroline hoards a promise of last love, of Klaus. And this self proclaimed King of New Orleans casually just tried to strip that promise from her.

Marcel looks as if he wants to reach out to her but thinks the better of it. And part of Caroline wants to smack herself for not just showing her hand but tossing most of her cards in the air for all to see. The other parts of her just don’t care. Her one saving grace is that she can still hear her daughters fast asleep in a borrowed bed.

She’s not sure how long she cries for or even for who. For Klaus? Herself? Her daughters? Or Stephan? Perhaps for Tyler who she hasn’t thought of in years? Or for something else entirely. Eventually it slows and she comes to realize that her fangs had come out, even as she keeps her head buried in her arms. The blond vampire, maybe not quite a baby anymore, but she still has had less then a decade, cut her some slack, is painfully aware of the stare of Marcel King of New Orleans. It’s the stare of a predator, but at the same times it’s achingly close to the ones Klaus used to have when she did something he was puzzling out. She knows when he gets up and makes his way to the tiny kitchen. She hears the gentle opening and closing of the refrigerator, and then he is back, holding out a blood bag. Caroline hesitates for a moment, before taking it, letting her curls shield her from his stare, from the world in general.

“Klaus is my sire. He took me in when I was just a boy, a slave. The bastard son of the governor. They all raised me, but Klaus is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a father.” He looks perturbed, as if he hadn’t meant to share that with her, a near stranger. But somehow they’re not strangers in this moment. In this moment there is only shared grief.

“When I was eighteen Klaus used the sire bond on Tyler my then boyfriend and his first hybrid to get him to bite me. It was my birthday.” There is silence as she sips blood. A- not her favorite. “My first since being turned. He came over later that night and I asked if he was going to kill me. He asked me if I really thought that low of him.” Her laugh was hollow. “I wanted to kill him in that moment. In the end he offered me a choice and well I’m still here.” She sounds young and then it struck Marcel, she is that young. She’s scarily competent and as he remarked earlier a very smart woman, but she’s still so young for all she’s a mother in her own right.

“He’s still alive.” Marcel watches her head shoot up and so many emotions flicker across her face, gone before he can grasp them, tears welling again eyes that are too old. “I can’t let him go, the peace in this city depends on it, but I promise you he’s alive.”

“You’re torturing him.” The statement is strangely blank. The King of New Orleans watches her regather her control and tuck everything deep within herself, hiding all but a glimpse behind those old blue eyes. “We’ll be gone tomorrow morning and wont trouble you any further. Thank you for your hospitality.” It’s the strictest letter of politeness, her monster carefully leashed as if she doesn’t trust herself to be anything other then the young mother who came to the city seeking refuge with an old friend. “Now I think it’s time for you to go.”

“Why New Orleans?”

“I said I think it’s time for you to go.”

“Why him?”

“Leave.” It is only the sound of one of her girls shifting beneath the sheets that keeps it at a hiss rather then a shout.

Moments later she’s pinned to the wall by her neck, unconcealed hatred in her eyes as they bore into rage tinged with confusion that sparks in the eyes of the King of New Orleans. She smirks, one she stole from Klaus, as her eyes flick to his arm which holds her suspended. He lowers her until her feet brush the floor and then he is gone. The fact that the door barely made a whisper as not to disturb her slumbering treasures assures her that she has played her remaining cards well. She might not have rescued Klaus, but those questions are the seeds to his freedom.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s early as Caroline loads the last of their things back into her car. Her girls safely occupied in the their car seats. She feels eyes on her and knows they belong to those who serve the Master of the City. She’s fairly certain however they are not physically his eyes. A call to Alaric this morning shows that while Rayna is still chasing Stephan and Damon, the danger to Caroline had passed. She can go back to Dallas, to her life.

At the presence behind her she turns. Caroline doesn’t smile this time. Josh stands there, hands in his pockets, but still so preciously earnest.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes. The danger has passed and it’s safe for us to go back.”

“Well that’s good. It’s nice to have met you.”

Caroline wishes she could say the same. However this earnest vampire is tied to this city and one she can’t save, not from himself and not from those who torture him. Not with the danger it would bring to her family.

“Oh before I forget.” A business card with a name and a number. “Marcel wanted you to have this. You know just in case.”

She studies it for a moment, runs a finger over a corner. Marcel Gerard. She stores that information away in the corner of her mind. Then she lifts her eyes to meet the messenger’s and deliberately tears it in half, letting the pieces flutter into the street. Without a word she climbs into her car and pulls into the flow of early morning commuters.

 

“ _Mommy where are we going?”_

“ _Home baby. We’re going home.”_

 

* * *

 

It’s been three years since the Fall of the Mikaelsons and he’s deliberately stayed away, checking on things maybe once every few months. Now he’s been down here twice in as many days. Once again standing over the prone figure of a fallen king. He never should have moved Klaus from Lafayette Cemetery. Kept him safe and unseen. behind brink and mortar. But it’s easier to show off his prize to Klaus’s enemies when they can see his suffering. Easier to keep them out of his city.

There is peace in his city. Bloody peace purchased with the their downfall. His mind strays back to that night. The sham of a trial. Rebekah was right. Klaus really could talk his way out of hell.

Unease courses through his veins. Marcel doesn’t like it. Something had changed. The most minute shift. Caroline changed things. He no longer felt like he was peaking through a keyhole to see a work of art, but rather looking through a frosted pane of glass, only able to make out the faintest hint of it’s true glory. He thought he preferred the keyhole.

Grief, rage, uncertainty flicker, for all Marcel Gerard King of New Orleans refuses to acknowledge them. Caroline had woven a gossamer web not with silken lies, but with genuine truth. She had wrapped the story of why she should hate Klaus around him balancing his own story of why he loves – loved Klaus. His friend. His sire. His family. His father. Love soured to hate and back again. An endless spinning coin. He flinched. Better not to let his thoughts go there. Was Caroline the other side of his coin then? Endlessly spinning from hate to love before starting again?

His phone drew him from his thoughts. Josh rarely called. Still a child of his generation, much preferring to text. “hi Marcel. She’s gone. But” he hesitates, a hitch in his words “she didn’t take the card. Tore it in half and left. Didn’t say a word.”

He doesn’t understand, but Marcel is not one to kill the messenger, at least not in this instance. “Thank you Josh.”

No Caroline wouldn’t have said anything. She had said everything she needed to last night. And he had lost what ever game they played. She didn’t play by the rules. If he was being at all honest he felt rather as though she had flipped the board, changed the game. But that was the rub of it. She hadn’t come to this city to play games at all. Just a desperate flight, driven by unconditional love for her daughters, searching for safety and soft place to land.

He still didn’t know her connection to Klaus or Klaus’s connection to her. Her glib answer about the big bad wolf was frustrating in that it was both true and told him nothing. Her tears had hinted at something. They had been as broken as the link between her life and Klaus’s. Why had he thought telling her that Klaus still lived would reassure her? Why did he want to reassure her? Were the threads between her and Klaus love or hate or like him some mixture of the two ever changing? Why had Klaus offered her choice? Why all these question?

He had a city to run after all. A city starting it’s fourth year of peace.

Klaus deserved to suffer. It was justice that he suffer. But for a moment a fraction of a second, when a young vampire with ancient eyes had told him that he was torturing him, no emotion, it made him want to stop it. He could. Could claw open the chest of the fallen king and remove the dagger. End the suffering. More then that it would give him access to the one who could put these questions to rest.

“Why did she run to you?” If he didn’t know any better he would have thought Klaus’s unseeing body was mocking him, despite the lack of any change. Marcel turned and stormed out, desperately trying to leave everything with the fallen king. To go back to his queen of a city and be her king.

 

It would only be a year later as the 5th anniversary approached, when he would finally rip free the dagger, when questions and Caroline had eaten away at him, would he acknowledge the truth, though what that true meant eluded him. New Orleans hadn’t been her safe place to land, Klaus had was.

**Author's Note:**

> This started when I realized that Marcel surely had people looking out for people asking too many questions about the Mikealsons while he had Klaus as a prisoner. It also didn't make sense to me as to why Marcel would have removed Papa Tunde's knife in less then five years. But I thought a meeting between the King of New Orleans and Caroline Forbes might explain a few things.
> 
> I am contemplating reposting it as a single piece rather then leaving it in it's current chapters.


End file.
